The internet is now an important tool for retrieving information and for commercial activity. Users on a remote terminal can retrieve web pages over the internet from a remote server. Such web pages contain useful information and can also be used for commercial activity. For example, people can use the pages to submit information along with requests for purchasing products and services.
The process of providing sensitive personal and commercial details over the internet has provided an avenue for criminal activity. Imposter web pages that mimic genuine web pages are frequently used to fraudulently obtain sensitive information from end users. Such pages are generally termed “phishing” web pages, and the sites they form part of are called “phishing” web sites.
Typically a phishing page will closely resemble a genuine web page and entice users to provide information. For example, where a person conducts internet banking they can enter their passwords, along with monetary transactions through the genuine website provided by their bank. A phishing page could resemble such a genuine page in a manner that might not be easily detected by the end user. When the fraudulent page is passed to the user, they enter their sensitive information in the usual manner which, once submitted, can then be used by the entity providing the phishing page for illegal purposes.
Phishing pages are becoming an ever increasing problem on the internet. They put end users at risk of losing information and money, and also put genuine commercial entities at risk of losing credibility with their customers.